Pacific Rim Investor Show Still Needs Products

Organizers of the second annual California Venture Capital Forum and Pacific Rim Financial Symposium say they have a stellar lineup of potential investors--twice last year’s number--for the upcoming two-day meeting at Chapman College in Orange.

What they need, however, are good products to present at the entrepreneurial dating game.

There are 28 companies signed up to show their wares and deliver pitches for investment funds during the two-day show.

But with a Monday night deadline for entrepreneurs to register for the event, symposium executive director William Anthony said he is still looking for a dozen more “quality” products to add to the presentations next Thursday and Friday.

“We have succeeded beyond our expectations in having investors coming to the symposium,” Anthony said. “We have investors coming from overseas, people really looking for something to put money into.

“We’ve had a lot of companies (seeking funds) contact us, but their technology is just a thought or something on paper and they’ve done nothing with it, not even a prototype,” he said. “We need to look at 50 business plans to get one that’s really good.”

Ventures Turned Away

Among those turned away, he said, were a dozen or so companies that want to start fast-food restaurants but whose ideas were little more than takeoffs on current chains. Also rejected were several companies that wanted to publish magazines but had no management, no business plan and no premiere issue.

“The key is to bring together a quality technology with a semblance of a good management team and a good business plan,” Anthony said.

The symposium is aimed at matching investors with inventors to co-develop, co-manufacture, distribute or license products or to invest outright in emerging companies.

The courtship begins with talks on opportunities for manufacturing, distribution and joint ventures in Mexico and Pacific Rim countries. The action moves to an exhibit hall session where the entrepreneurs strut their wares with actual demonstrations or show-and-tell presentations.

One 3-year-old company, Digital Hydraulics Inc. in Costa Mesa, will tell all about its digital microcomputer and patented valve system that controls the pressure in hydraulic and pneumatic power machines. Anthony said the company, which has sold 35 systems so far, needs about $1 million for marketing and a mass-production process.

New Uses for Computers

Owner-inventor Ray Woodworth said the products are the first to interact with other computers to control, for instance, robotic automation in automobile factories. They also can be used in cars to control brakes, anti-pollution mechanisms and transmissions and replace shocks and springs to provide a smoother ride. He said he is now developing computerized “weightless” weightlifting equipment using a hydraulic device that can be programmed to provide different degrees of weight resistance for an entire workout.

Among other emerging companies that will be looking for investment funds at the seminar are:

- Hydro-Power in Laguna Hills, which needs $3 million to develop its prototype “Seamill,” an underwater turbine that generates electricity and is powered by the rise and fall of ocean waves.

- Rendal Corp., of Phoenix, Ariz., which is looking for $1.7 million to produce and market a new coating for the insides of sewer pipes and other materials. The product, Crandalon, was used in recent construction at the Port of Long Beach, Anthony said.

- Vidcom, an Arvada, Colo., partnership that needs up to $900,000 to develop its digitizer-scanner. The unit reads print on an average-size sheet of paper and converts it into digital symbols that can be stored and processed by computers. While large, expensive scanners are not new in the publishing field, Vidcom expects a market for small, $150 models for home or office.

Representatives of some 100 investment companies are coming to the symposium from around the world, Anthony said. The firms include 20 Japanese venture capital companies, 35 Scandinavian firms, a Costa Rican venture capital fund set up by banks in Costa Rica, and two Mexican broker groups.

Also attending the symposium will be trade council representatives from Canada, Mexico and six other Pacific Rim countries.